How to build a wall that holds nothing back: Start with the mesh. Staple it to timber stakes at intervals the manual doesn't specify — trust your eye. The grid is not structure; it is memory, the ghost the mortar will forget it needed. Mix the mortar to the consistency of something between cake batter and regret. You will know when it is right because the trowel will drag against it with a sound like a decision being made. Apply the first coat with the flat of the blade, working diagonally against the mesh. Press. The mesh pushes back. This is correct. Resistance is the point. Leave to cure overnight or until the sky changes its mind, whichever comes first. In Wellington, these are the same thing. For the second coat: score the first while it is still green. This is called keying. You are asking the new layer to hold on to the old one. You are teaching surfaces to trust each other. The snail will find the base of your work and conduct its own inspection. Let it. It knows something about slow adhesion you are only beginning to learn. The trowel, when you set it down, should rest across the top of the unfinished course with the handle facing out. Not because the manual says so. Because you will want to pick it up again.